Sunday, January 31, 2016

After I posted the nostalgic diner images of Pam Ingalls here, I was reminded of the works of painter Richard Estes whose incredible photorealist oil on canvas pieces often show diners...
I love how Ingalls' work is loose and Impressionistic and Estes' is so precise and tight.

Remember these are paintings, not photographs. In a way, Estes' work reminds me of Paper Moon Graphics which I posted about here.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

As an interior designer, one of the things I just love to see in a kitchen is a table lamp! It is an unexpected element that brings a layer of warmth and home to an otherwise possibly sterile area of the house.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

These interior scenes of classic American diners by painter Pam Ingalls in Washington state are quite pleasing to me. Maybe it brings a sense of nostalgia...it feels like an invitation to step back in time, take a stool, order a burger, and breathe easier...

Monday, January 25, 2016

And before we leave the fashion season, I must share with you one last bit of sartorial theater. White Mountaineering teamed with athletic wear company adidas Originals for a sleek, futuristic FW '16-'17 collection of sport clothing and shoes shown at Pitti Uomo. While the pieces are nice enough (Y3 did it MUCH better here), it is the presentation that is truly mind-boggling. Watch the video below to witness a dazzling light show...make sure you see it to the end.

Raf Simons. Long sleeves. Large scale. More cocooning, more pulling into one's shell like Damir Doma and more childhood like Fendi. Simons' collection directly referenced youth in varsity sweaters with anonymous school letters and insignias.

And it seems that the break out star of the season was plush toy fur, seen not only at Fendi, but also at Ann Demeulemeester (who, it must be noted, also included long hair along with plush toy fur!)...

...and plush toy fur also at Loewe. Like kids dressing up as Fred Flintstone...

A Thom Browne show is always something amazing to see. His last few collection have become more and more ominous with a possible hint of the macabre, models walking the space slowly in some kind of spooky nightmarish ritual. The funereal pace continued (Browne's FW '15-16 show seen here was a literal funeral!) for this FW '16-'17 show which began with two black-lipped models looking for all the world like an Edward Gorey (previously here) drawing walking the stage, drawing down diaphanous white sheets from enormous upright picture frames and from a massive chandelier. Once the dust covers were removed and the stage eerily lit, like a room from The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, the show proper began.

Browne said we were witness to 13 members (an "unlucky" number...) of a 1920s gentlemen’s club who return there after the Depression to reflect on their past. Hence the dust covers. Models wore bowlers hats not on their heads but on their faces, giving a frightening, menacing, anonymous spectral appearance. But a show that, on the surface seemed ghostly, unexpectedly turned poignant and touching. Each look came out in three different forms: 1) a Depression-ravaged, dusty, threadbare version, 2) a slightly worn version, and 3) a pristine, crisp, new version, which taken together, represented a journey back in time for these men, a journey back to before the Depression, when things were younger, cleaner, newer. Each of these three doppelgängers took their place at a picture frame, the two older, ragged versions on one side, the memory of fresh youth on the other, as though all three were contemplating themselves in a mirror, past and future facing off. And when one contemplates the ramifications of that action, we should all understand that we can look in the mirror of our own lives, look back and see what we once were, where we came from. And the longer one lives, the more doppelgängers there will be. So certainly on the surface, but also in a deeper way, the show was about ghosts, just in a gentler, less literal way. We leave behind us the ghosts of who we once were. It is a function of time.

The pieces themselves were classic Thom Browne with traditional men's suiting techniques and a truly artisanal dedication to detail. Absent was the skirt/apron he has championed for many seasons, but present was his trademark shorter trouser...and a whimsical dachshund symbol woven into coats. The doggie also showed up in the form of a sweet furry carry bag, looking like a plush toy version of a doctor bag. In the spirit of the Izod alligator, Browne's dachshund joins his tortoise and cute spouting whale from past collections

In the photos below, I have teamed up only the first (most ragged) and third (newest) incarnations of each look for contrast. While the logical choice for consumers would be the new version of each garment, I can't help but think that the worn pieces have more desirability in terms of character, story, interest..."There’s beauty in the perfection, and there’s beauty in the imperfection," Browne said after the show.

Look at the incredible pearled detailing on these jackets and hats...

Browne is slow to upload videos of his shows, but as soon as the video of this show is available, I will post it here. Stay tuned...
Meanwhile, here is a minute and a half of edited footage from A Shaded View's Diane Pernet:

About Me

About "Oh, By The Way"

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.

Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft) and I will be happy to provide a link.

I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain ME. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.

All-time Favorite Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)

Amelie

American Beauty (Alan Ball)

Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)

Belle et Bete (Cocteau)

Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)

Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)

Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)

Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)

Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)

Easy Rider

Edward II (Derek Jarman)

Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)

Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)

Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)

Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)

Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)